Magic Moments
by moonliteshdow
Summary: A multichapter fic in which Ron and Hermione have their own little moments over years 1-7. R/Hr UPDATED 15/10/12 CHAPTER 4
1. Chapter 1

Before the Wedding

_Hi everyone! I've decided to do a multi-chapter fic on moments between Ron and Hermione over years 1-7. This first one's a short one, but hopefully you'll like it._

_MoonliteShdow_

* * *

On the morning of Bill and Fleur's wedding, the Burrow awoke to the sound of furious pounding on the door of a certain pair of mischievous twins.

'Fred! George? Have you two got my tie, I'll...'

Fred opened the door and grinned widely up at his youngest brother, who was standing looking quite mad, his hair sticking out all over, wearing a pair of trousers and an open shirt. This sight was amusing enough, without Ron furiously waving his fist in Fred's face like an old geezer from a western.

'Now why little brother, would you assume we've got your tie?' Fred grinned, contradicting his words with his action.

'Yeah. Harry's the one sharing your room and we don't see you pointing your wand at him...' George added, sounding even less innocent than his counterpart.

'Harry doesn't do things like that,' Ron stated, as though the idea of Harry purposefully hiding someone's tie was ridiculous.

'No he's way too noble to steal peoples ties aren't you Harry?' Fred said, knowing Harry was in the next room.

'Don't bring my name into this!' Harry replied, loudly.

'What about Hermione? Could it be her doing?' George pretended to tap his chin thoughtfully.

'That's an even stupider suggestion!' Ron said.

'Is it?' Fred raised his eyebrows and grinned at George knowingly.

'Alright...' Ron put his hand to his forehead in exasperation. 'I know you've got it – just give it back and Bill doesn't need to know that his ushers are fighting.'

'Oh you're no fun Ronnie. Here...' George produced the tie from his pocket and wrapped it around Ron's head. 'Have some!'

Ron ripped the tie off his head furiously, tripped over one of Fred and George's boxes and fell flat on his back with his shirt wide open in the middle of the hallway.

Unfortunately this happened to be the moment when Hermione walked out of Ginny's bedroom, dressed in her normal clothes.

'Morning Hermione!' said Fred cheerfully, as an incredibly awkward silence descended over the landing.

'Hermione?' Ron propped himself up on his elbows, startled.

Hermione's eyes were taking in the rise and fall of his bare chest.

'Oh!... Morning...' she said, breathlessly.

Ron seemed momentarily stunned, then quickly jumped up, fastening his shirt and muttering.

'Er... so I need to get ready for... for the wedding... see you later.'

And with that he practically ran into his bedroom, slamming the door.

'You know Fred, the only time I saw him move faster than that was last year on the back garden when Mum asked him if he'd got a girlfriend, do you remember?'

'Oh yeah!' Fred grinned. 'Apparently he's quite good at jumping hedges our Ronnie...'

Hermione actually giggled and descended the stairs.

As soon as she disappeared, Ron came out of his room fully clothed, followed by Harry.

He rounded quickly on Harry.

'Did you see her look at me?'

Harry shook his head and put his hands up; this was one situation he wasn't getting involved in if he could help it.

'What's up Ron? Did she see your pygmy puff tattoo?' said George, winking at Harry.

Ron threw a stray sock at George's face, which fell over the banister and instead, landed on Charlie's, who was about to shout up the stairs to announce breakfast.

'Oi! What's going on up there? I hope you lot aren't fighting!' Charlie's voice echoed up the staircase.

'No it's alright Charlie, it's just Ron trying to assassinate everyone. He thinks if we're all out of the way, he'll get to be Best Man,' Fred replied, seriously.

'Stop being mad and get down the stairs. Mum says breakfast's ready!'

'Come on,' muttered Ron to Harry, unsure as to whether he could face Hermione in anything more than a badly lit room again.


	2. Chapter 2

Tiptoeing

_Sorry it's took a while but here's another chapter folks! This is set at Christmas in OoTP – a bit longer this time. Yay!_

* * *

_Being stuck together in the same house is an impending recipe for disaster. And that's the reality of the Order of the Phoenix; less than thirty people, some of whom under ordinary circumstances would avoid each other like the plague, all practically living under one another's noses and trying not to break into random scuffles in corridors._

These were Ron's thoughts as he tidied his bedroom, grumpily throwing the mouldy cushions from the bed into the corner of the room.

'Ron! I hope you're finishing cleaning that bedroom like I asked you!' Mrs. Weasley's voice reverberated up the stairs.

'Yeah of course I am!' Ron grimaced, unconventionally using a mouldy cushion to wipe the dust off the bedside cabinet. He muttered sarcastically, 'it's not like I've got anything better to do...'

Pig hooted happily from his cage as Ron proceeded to tape a poster of the Chudley Cannons to the back of the bedroom door.

'Oh, sorry Ron!' Hermione stopped in her tracks as she opened the door and hit him accidently. 'I keep forgetting where my room is...'

Ron rubbed his arm.

'I wouldn't mind Hermione but this is the third time you've forgotten that it's on the other side of the landing! Are you sure you weren't hit by Mad-Eye's obliviate charm earlier?'

'Well I suppose it's because I've been cleaning _your_ room most of the day,' Hermione said accusatorily.

'Oh I knew it would come back to me,' said Ron, taking off his dirty jumper, 'it's my fault if anything goes wrong, and your fault if anything goes right...'

'Well... yes, that sounds about right. You know, you could keep this room a bit tidier.' She wrinkled her nose at the items of clothing spread around the room, and her eyes lingered on a sock that had somehow found its way onto the lampshade.

Ron followed her gaze and frowned. 'Sorry – that's Pig.'

As he climbed on to the bed to retrieve the offending item, she asked, 'Honestly Ron, what else have you got in here?' She looked around warily, as though expecting to see a large untrained orang-utan in the room.

'Look, as long as there are no spiders in here I'm not bothered,' he replied, testily.

Hermione giggled; she found it funny when he complained about spiders.

'Why don't you sit down for a bit, isn't Harry still talking to Sirius?' Ron asked.

Hermione smiled. 'Alright, but I need to read a chapter of my book before I go to bed.'

'You'll run yourself into the ground Hermione,' he replied, 'have a seat.'

He gestured towards the bed and sat himself on the moth eaten rug on the floor.

'There's room enough for two of us...' Hermione said, staring at the four poster bed.

'Nah I'm alright down here.' His ears turned pink for a moment, and then he grinned. 'I _know_ my place.'

'Ron, stop talking about yourself like that!' she admonished him.

Ignoring her, he looked down at the rug and immediately regretted it, screwing up his nose.

'Looks like somebody's thrown up on this.'

'Delightful Ron.'

'I'm just saying...'

With that declaration, they sat in silence for a moment.

'What's that smell?' he asked, suddenly.

'The rug?' Hermione offered sarcastically.

'No, it's a nice smell, I like it.'

'Oh. Well it could be me I suppose; I've just been in the bath.'

'Oh.' He blushed, for reasons he wouldn't care to admit. 'But doesn't it smell a bit like that perfume I got you?'

Now it was Hermione's turn to blush.

'It is.'

'Right.' Ron stared at her unabashedly, then dropped his head and muttered something that sounded like 'didn't think you'd wear it'.

'Well what else am I going to do with it, drink it?' Hermione asked him, derisively.

She was pouting at him, her curly hair hanging loosely around her face. It was at these moments Ron could easily abandon all self control and try to kiss her. But he settled for the safe and incredibly off putting option of staring at the possible vomit stain on the rug instead.

Hermione wanted to ask him why he wouldn't sit on the bed with her, but she knew it would immediately create awkwardness between them. He was keeping unusually silent, so she decided to read a chapter of her book.

At the rustling of the pages, Ron looked up.

'Don't tell me you carry books around in your soap bag now, as well?'

'If you must know, this is my regular bag!'

'Go on then...' He sighed as though resigned for the worst, and stood up, hovering near the bed whilst looking down at her. 'What is it you're reading?'

'Ron, will you just sit next to me, you're making me nervous! You're like an ill sitting hen!'

He lowered himself onto the bed slowly, as though expecting some sort of explosion to occur. When nothing happened except the creaking of the bed springs, he leaned over to see the book cover.

Ron chuckled. 'You know what Hermione? I've decided I actually like that about you. The book reading, I mean... it's... well... _funny_.'

'_Funny_?' Hermione looked at him.

'Yeah, you know...'

'No, I don't!' She looked annoyed.

'Well, it's just very _you_, isn't it?' He bravely ventured again.

'Ron if you're trying to annoy me its working!' She snapped.

'I wasn't! I was complimenting you!'

'Well that _would_ be a first wouldn't it?'

Ron assumed his usual gobsmacked expression and shook his head.

'Don't tell me I've never...'

Hermione loftily shook her head and pursed her lips, holding the book as though to read it.

There was nothing else for it; Ron had to say something.

'Well... didn't you hear the part where I said that _I like it_? I'm not joking...'

She looked derisively at him.

'You don't believe me.' He actually looked a bit crestfallen.

'Ron you've spent the last four years telling me that I'm a know-it-all and that I might as well just _be_ a book and go live in the library, and you expect me to suddenly believe that you're complimenting me on it?'

'Hermione, I say a lot of things. You know me - sometimes my gob runs away with me. I don't mean half of what I say...' He was blushing; he sometimes did when he realised he'd said too much.

He distracted himself by picking at the bed clothes.

Hermione softened a little; something she did when Ron inadvertently exposed his insecurities.

She sighed and put the book down.

'Well... thank you Ron. I'm glad you like _something_ about me, even if it's only one thing.'

She tucked her hair behind her ear and looked exasperated.

'Don't be stupid,' he said, equally as exasperated, 'that's not the only thing...'

'Really?' she looked up at him but it seemed as though he wasn't about to elaborate, and jumped up to busy himself with the Cannons poster again.

Hermione sighed. Ron was so gruff about things. Sometimes Harry would eventually open up about his feelings, but Ron? With Ron it was like trying to get blood from a stone. The best you could hope for was if he slipped something out – usually as a joke or in the heat of the moment.

She watched him as he finished securing the poster to the door with spellotape. He took two steps back to admire his handiwork and the whole thing just curled up, landing on the floor. Hermione waited for the outburst, especially since Pig chose the same moment to escape his cage and fly over to Ron. Sensing danger, he narrowly diverted and landed on Hermione's shoulder instead.

Ron strode over to Hermione, angrily.

'What are _you_ doing out? I've only just put you back!' He made as though to snatch Pig off Hermione's shoulder.

Hermione jumped up off the bed and snatched Pig first, cupping him in her hands.

'Ron! You leave him alone!' She looked up at him angrily. 'Just because you're stupid enough to fall for Fred and George's joke spellotape does not mean you can take it out on everyone else!'

'_What_? It's theirs is it? Just wait 'til I see them!' he muttered angrily, eyeing Hermione's hands but not daring to touch her. He looked furtively at her. 'Give him here; I'll put him back...'

'No, not while you're in such a foul mood. _I'll_ put him back...' She strode towards the cage stroking Pig's head. 'Don't worry Pig; Ron's being a pain...'

'And _he_ isn't? Escaping every five minutes, hiding in the lampshade, twittering around my head, showing off...'

'He _loves_ you Ron.'

Ron looked surprised for a moment, but then recovered himself. 'He loves whoever's feeding him...'

'Don't be silly. He's your pet.' She put Pig gently back into his cage where he stared out of the bars dolefully.

'Don't give me that...' Ron muttered but in a slightly mollified way, eyeing the owl.

'Yes.' Hermione looked at him with an amused expression. 'Much like the rest of us, he loves you but he has to tiptoe around you, just in case something upsets the balance. In this case, an insubordinate poster...'

'_The rest of you?_... Get out of it - _Harry_ doesn't _love_ me!' He fell back onto the bed and shook with silent laughter.

'He _does_! Of course he does!' Hermione said defiantly as she watched him laugh, 'He's your best friend! You're like brothers aren't you?'

'We don't look very much alike though do we?' Ron grinned. 'And what's all this, every time I let you into our room you always end up talking about our feelings!'

'Yes well someone has to! You and Harry just ignore things like that! You don't know how lucky you are...' She suddenly looked a bit wistful. 'I've never had a sister...'

Ron sat up and looked down at her.

'You've got Ginny.'

'Yes I suppose I have...'

'And when you say that Harry's like my brother, well... he's like your brother as well isn't he?'

Hermione smiled but Ron's face suddenly dropped.

'Unless of course, he's more than a brother...'

Hermione stared at him for a moment, then realised.

'Oh no! _No_! That would be a bit odd wouldn't it? No – Harry's definitely like a brother to me.'

Ron sighed with relief.

'What?' Hermione asked hopefully, catching his sigh.

'I dunno, I... well we're all friends together, right? So if you and Harry are like siblings, and Harry and I are like siblings then... what does that make you and me?'

Hermione blushed and immediately looked down at her book, pretending to leaf through the pages.

Ron frowned, apparently thinking about something.

Boldly, he suddenly blurted out, 'Cause I definitely don't think of you as my sister!'

You could have heard a pin drop in the room. Hermione looked up.

Ron had gone the colour of a radish but he was frowning, looking at the floor. Suddenly he muttered something Hermione had said earlier 'much like the rest of us? _Love_ me...' she could see his mouth form the words 'but not like a sister? Then what...'

'Are you aright Ron?' she prompted him, gently.

'Bloody hell,' he whispered, 'the penny's just dropped...'

It wasn't possible for the room to get any warmer.

Ron unconsciously leaned closer to her.

'Hermione... do you think of _me_ as a brother?' he asked, quietly.

'No,' she said, a little too quickly.

'Should I be upset about that?'

She turned quickly and looked up at him, surprised to find him so close. Clutching her book to her chest slightly, she said in a slightly squeaky way - 'It depends. You said you don't think of me as a sister, so I suppose we're even.'

'What about Krum? You don't think of him as a brother do you? I bet if he tried to snog you, you'd melt in his arms,' he said, accusatorily.

'Well let's put it this way Ron – Viktor's not here, and he's just a friend. But you are, and you're very close right now...' she remarked pointedly, as though alerting him to the fact that he was currently looking down at her like a hungry wolf.

Ron suddenly seemed to realise what he was doing - looking down at her lips. He jumped back as far as the headboard, banging his head against it.

He rubbed his head, deeply embarrassed.

Hermione sighed, blushing. Yes – she certainly had to tiptoe around Ron, else upset the delicate balance! Someday though...


	3. Chapter 3

Awkward

_I'm back! One of these days I'm actually going to finish a fanfic when I start one... ah well - this is a short chapter, set again on the morning of Bill and Fleur's wedding._

* * *

Ron was standing at the foot of the stairs, his mouth opening and closing like a fish as he scanned her figure. Swallowing visibly, his cheeks and ears had turned a furious shade of red.

Hermione tried to walk gracefully down the stairs which was no mean feat when she was being stared at unabashedly.

'You look gorgeous,' he blurted out before he could stop himself. His eyes widened at his own admission and he immediately cast his eyes at the floor, standing back against the wall to let her pass.

'Thank you Ron,' she said with an attempt at composure. This was also hard to do when the stairs were so narrow.

And it was then that she missed the bottom stair, crying out and bracing herself for impact with the floor below. Instead, she found herself in the arm of Ron, who had proven just how good a keeper he was when he trusted his instincts!

As gently as he could, Ron used this same arm to pull her back against him. Out of shock, he then placed both his arms securely around her middle as though she might suddenly run off into the path of some other danger.

The pair slowly opened their eyes and Ron gruffly breathed a question down into her hair, 'Are you alright?'

Hermione let out a sob and her shoulders shook against his chest. With a feeling of great trepidation, he turned her around to face him and could see tears flowing down her cheeks.

The emotions of the morning already running high, it seemed this shock had been the last straw for Hermione's nerves.

'There, there,' Ron murmured somewhat awkwardly, 'you're ruining your makeup.'

This had been a mistake; Hermione covered her face, embarrassed and continued to cry.

'Er... I didn't mean you look bad now your makeup's run,' Ron said, digging a giant hole for himself, 'I just thought you ought to know. Let's face it; you'd kill me if I didn't tell you. I'm damned if I do and I'm damned if I don't.'

Hermione smiled through her tears.

'Ron?' she asked, 'do you think you could get me a tissue? I... don't want anyone to see me like this.'

Ron's heart softened to Hermione in a way it did to nothing else. Biting the bullet, he slid his hand into hers.

'Come on - let's go and sit down, we can get one from my room. Anyway, why is it always me hanging around when you're crying eh?' He shook her hand and grinned, as though to shake the upset out of her. 'Anyone would think the two things are related...'

She smiled again. 'Funny you should say that.'

'Here,' he said passing her a tissue, having reached his room, 'sorry about the size of the tissue, but with this conk, what do you expect?'

'Ron! Stop putting yourself down!' she admonished him, though amused. He was only trying to cheer her up.

Sitting herself primly on Ron's bed, she finished wiping underneath her eyes and blowing her nose, and then looked properly at Ron for the first time.

'Oh!' she exclaimed, 'don't you look smart!'

Ron blushed and automatically turned towards his mirror, fiddling with his tie.

'Well I'm not too bad. I've messed about for ages; somehow Harry always looks good even with that sticky out bit of hair he's got. And I wish I could do something about these.' He gestured hopelessly at his freckles.

'Harry looks good I'll admit,' she answered, prompting Ron to look downcast, 'but you look great.' She smiled warmly at him.

The tips of Ron's ears went bright red and to cover this embarrassment, he blurted out 'do you want another tissue? Not that you need one, I'm not saying you need one, like I say, you look gorgeous to me but I thought... you... might... er...'

He'd said far too much. And Hermione was smiling very strangely at him.

Ron looked impossibly cute, standing there with his 'I think I'm in trouble' face. He pretended to look in the mirror again and fiddle with his tie, only to discover Hermione stood behind him.

'Let me have a look.' He turned towards her and she examined the tie carefully, her hands running along the knot.

Chancing a glance upwards, she discovered Ron's eyes had glazed over; he was staring down at her dreamily.

Hermione smiled knowingly.

'I've finished,' she said, waking him from his reverie, 'and just for the record - I've always loved this.' She kissed his nose. 'And these.' She kissed his freckled cheek.

Ron gaped at her, one hand pressed against the cheek.

'Thank you for helping me Ron. I'll see you downstairs.' She looked shyly at the floor, and left without holding his gaze again.

Ron stood motionless for a moment, and then turned back to the mirror once more, where for the first time in his life, he saw a handsome young man staring back.

* * *

A/N:

_If you think that crying after you've missed the last couple of steps on the stairs is mad, you've obviously never done exactly that, then slipped on the rug at the bottom and rolled sideways into the living room. Yep – that was me. Once the initial shock wore off I couldn't stop laughing about the last part. How the devil I managed to roll into the living room always got me :\ It's a literal and metaphorical ROFLMAO._


	4. Chapter 4

Misunderstanding?

_I really ought to write more PoA stuff since it's one of my favourite HP books. And on a slightly off track note, I really wish Rupert had kept the hairstyle from this movie for the rest – I just think that's what Ron's hair is supposed to look like LOL_

* * *

It was a cold winter's morning. Ron had just finished feeding Scabbers in the boy's dorms and was making his way downstairs. He pondered on how weird Hermione had been acting lately. For instance, how on Earth was she getting to all those classes at apparently the same time?

That very moment, said person appeared from the girls dorms with that bloody cat in her arms. Scabbers immediately went wild and decided to scratch Ron's hand ferociously.

'Ow, Scabbers!' he cried, nursing his now bleeding hand.

'Ron, are you alright?' Hermione heard his cry and almost chucked Crookshanks into a nearby pot in her haste to check if he was okay. Ron felt a malicious sense of satisfaction from this.

'I'm alright Hermione. It's that bloody cat of yours that's not! I keep getting scratched to death by Scabbers every time it's nearby!' He stood over her, waving the offending hand around.

'Don't be ridiculous Ron, let me have a look.' Hermione ignored the outburst and made as if to grab his hand. Ron blushed and hid the hand behind his back.

'Oh come here!' Hermione scalded him, gently but assertively taking the hand in hers.

Ron became very quiet as she examined it.

'Don't know why you're making such a fuss about it,' he muttered, trying to cover up the weird feelings currently being generated from Hermione holding his hand.

Hermione looked derisively up at him.

'_Me_ make a fuss? When you've just been waving it around like a trophy?'

'Well what's the verdict?' He ignored her sensible response, nodding down at his hand.

'My verdict Ron is that you are the limit!'

He grinned at her much like his twin brothers.

'Ah!' He suddenly cried out as she waved her wand over his hand with a simple healing spell.

Hermione looked smugly up at him as he examined his hand, now void of Scabbers' marks.

'Thanks,' he said quietly, and they stood awkwardly for a moment.

Ron cleared his throat.

'Are you coming to Hogsmeade this weekend? Only I thought it'd be cool if we met in the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer...'

A blush spread across Hermione's cheeks. Ron noticed, but didn't understand why.

'I mean if you're busy it's alright – you're probably camping down in the library for the weekend anyway...'

Hermione's blush turned to an indignant glare. Ron grinned, knowing he was irritating her.

'It's okay Hermione. I know you love books more than you love me,' he joked, missing the other meaning this sentence might have.

Hermione's blush returned in full force, and she looked at Ron's trainers instead of his face.

Despite Ron understanding the meaning of Hermione's death glares, he was very inept at reading her more girlish expressions – for instance he had no idea what this look meant and what he should do about it. Gentle Hermione made Ron awkward and uncomfortable whereas irritated Hermione was familiar and safe.

'Hermione?' he prompted her, weirdly feeling the need to adopt a softer tone.

Then she looked up at him.

'Ron, I'd love to get a butterbeer with you.'

It was like that look she'd given him last year after bursting into the Great Hall unpetrified – it took his breath and made him stutter incoherently.

'Oh! I, er, I mean, you know, with me _and_ Harry. I mean, what's life without being stalked by a few of Harry's deadliest enemies all the time?'

He realised his error – had he really asked her to go to the Three Broomsticks with him? He'd meant _with_ Harry – she'd misinterpreted it. Of course she had. Because he definitely hadn't been thinking about going with just her. Definitely not. Why would he?

A blush spread spectacularly across his face. Oh bloody hell.

'Oh, alright.' She seemed momentarily disappointed, and then became the usual business-like Hermione.

'Let me see it again.' She put her hand out in front of him and cleared her throat.

Ron looked at her for a moment, then placed his hand slowly in hers, captivated by her every move.

'It seems to be completely healed,' she commented.

'Yeah,' Ron said, in a deep voice as he looked at her.

It seemed the deepness of his voice surprised her, and she looked up, her cheeks still bright.

Ron was still getting used to this deeper voice of his, and it seemed to activate at particularly awkward moments usually concerning Hermione. He swallowed thickly. Hermione noticed this and smiled. _She_ had known what he meant earlier – she just wished he wasn't so scared of handling her like a girl.

'Well then, it seems you don't need me anymore. I'll see you later; I've got arithmancy in fifteen minutes.' With a hint of a shy smile she left the common room.

'What? But we've got Snape first!' He called after her uselessly.

Ron collapsed into an armchair.

She was wrong. He needed her a bit too much.

* * *

_What do you think? Leave me a review – I'd love to hear your thoughts!_


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